Diplomacy Before The Bombings Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki
Atomic Diplomacy was a term coined to mean attempt to use atomic weapons to meet diplomatic aims. Work for inventing the atomic bomb was completed in 1945 in the United States. The potential benefit of using this for non-military gains was immediately gauged by politicians. This gave the US complete monopoly in nuclear weaponry which was attempted to be used then and continues to be used for gaining diplomatic goals. |
Dropping two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ensured that the war with Japan concluded. The US authorities felt that this was the fastest way to end the conflict in the Pacific region which would ensure minimal loss to lives which would have been the case if allied soldiers were to attack Japan and become causalities during normal combat. The bombing changed the relation between the US and USSR postwar.
The presence of atomic bomb in the inventory was kept secret by President Roosevelt. Later, President Truman disclosed this information to Soviet Premier Stalin with little details about the use or the weapon. Soviets were sure to enter the Pacific conflict by mid 1945 and possibly balance power in this region. The US officials preferred complete occupation of Japan rather than sharing with USSR. Bombings at the two cities were seen as a demonstration of the destructive power of the US. This, along with monopoly in nuclear technology, made the US believe that concessions could be expected from USSR in Europe or Asia. Truman was not vocal in threatening the USSR with the bomb. Its mere availability in US weaponry was more than sufficient to threaten Soviet security.
More Articles :
US State Department; Office Of The Historian: Atomic Diplomacy
http://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/Atomic
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Invention of the atomic bomb was made use of in one of the most horrifying ways when it was dropped in Aug 1945 on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A program code named the Manhattan Project got underway in mid-1942 to make the bomb. More than 100,000 personnel worked for 3 years before completing the invention of the first atomic bomb. On 16 Jul 1945, the bomb was tested in Trinity, New Mexico and the blast caused devastation equivalent to a bomb containing twenty kilotons of tri-nitro-toluene (TNT). 